A pro-life group has been blocked from advertising with Twitter.
The social network site claims Live Action’s content is “inflammatory” and “offensive”.
The group has been told it cannot buy advertising until it removes all of the material that is deemed to be offensive, not only from Twitter but also from their website.
‘Discriminating’
Speaking to Tucker Carlson on Fox News, President and Founder of Live Action Lila Rose said: “I think it’s clear that Twitter is discriminating against the pro-life voice”.
“Planned Parenthood, the nation’s biggest abortion chain, is advertising on Twitter, but Live Action, which is the leading pro-life platform for the pro-life movement, is not allowed to”, she added.
The group has been censored for violations to Twitter’s ‘hateful conduct policy’.
‘Disturbing behaviour’
Rose said the material that fell foul of Twitter’s censorship included ultrasound images and fact-checks of Planned Parenthood.
In a statement, Live Action added: “This is disturbing behaviour for a social media platform that has over 300 million active users a month and that presents itself as a forum for people to voice a variety of opinions and positions.”
Twitter said it “has clear, transparent rules that every advertiser is required to follow, and the political viewpoints of an organization do not impact how those rules are applied”.
In 2008, internet giant Google settled out of court with The Christian Institute to allow religious groups to place factual and campaigning ads on the subject of abortion.
The Institute launched a legal action after its draft advert was refused. The ad said: “UK abortion law: Key views and news on abortion law from The Christian Institute.”
Google did not display the ad because its former policy disallowed the advertising of sites that mixed “abortion and religion-related content”.
The case was settled before it reached court, with Google agreeing to change its policy worldwide with immediate effect.
Read more about the case here.
